MONTEMELO, Spain - Although there are no winners in pre-season testing, Ferrari signaled its intent ahead of the new Formula One season by shattering the track record at the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday.
For the first time this week Sebastian Vettel went out on a performance run in his new Ferrari and used Pirelli's new hyper-soft qualifying tyres to set a 1:17.182 just ahead of the lunch break. The time was not only a the fastest ever on this layout of the Circuit de Catalunya -- eclipsing Daniel Ricciardo's short-lived record in the Red Bull on Wednesday by nearly 0.